Stolen
by truthbetold09
Summary: An AU Zutara fic. Katara is captured shortly after reviving Aang by the Rough Rhinos who take her to the Fire Nation and sell her to a brothel. There she encounters Prince Zuko...will he save her again, or betray her like before. (I'm terrible at summaries, I'm sorry) WARNING: THERE ARE VERY INTENSE SITUATIONS IN THIS FIC THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY NOT BE COMFORTABLE READING.
1. Chapter 1

For the lovely people in beanaroony's livestreams who keep inspiring me with their love for zutara. :) (I obviously dont own ATLA. Bryke does...don't sue me)

* * *

The ground beneathe her feet was sturdy and the wind in her hair, gentle. And though Aang was breathing steadily atop Appa, adrenaline still coursed through Katara's veins. They had only just landed in some random clearing in the Earth Kingdom when Katara slid to the ground, took a quick inventory of her surroundings and then ran for the stream she could feel pulling at the edges of her mind.

Sokka's shouts for her to wait were ignored; the stream was not close and Katara would need a lot of water to get Aang conscious again. She ran as fast as her tired legs would take her and it wasn't until her muscles were heavier than lead, that she stopped to take a breath. The battle with Azula, her Dai Li and that _traitor_ had taken a steep toll on Katara's body. Fatigue fogged her senses so badly that she didn't hear the heavy footsteps coming her way or feel the tremble of the earth that followed. A horror was walking toward her and Katara was blissfully unaware until a thick, strong arm wrapped around her whole torso, clamping her arms against her sides.

Animalistic panic flooded Katara's brain as she kicked and writhed with all the strength she had left. Her efforts were useless, however. The man didn't even stumble as she fought back and instead, only tightened his grip on her, pushing the air from her lungs. Rough rope spun its way around her wrists and legs, binding them together and she was deposited on the ground, landing roughly on her knees.

"Who are you?" Katara choked out, turning to look at her captor. He was a tall man with golden piercings in his nose and ears and a hair style that reminded Katara of Prince Zuko before he grew his hair out.

The man leered at her, his eyes lingering on Katara's chest. She struggled against her bonds, trying to hide herself from his view. This was bad. Katara knew that if Toph was on the ground then she would be coming to the rescue at any moment, but if she was still on Appa with Aang and it was Sokka searching for Katara…the odds weren't in her favor. Suddenly, then man turned around and whistled loudly. The earth began to shake beneathe Katara's knees and she could hear branches breaking accompanied by great snorts of what she could only assume were large beasts.

Her assumptions were correct as a gang of komodo-rhinos burst into view with men on their backs in various forms of Fire Nation armor. Realization smacked Katara in the face as she looked at each one in turn. The Rough Rhinos. This was very bad. The man with the piercings crouched in front of her.

"Where is the Avatar, girl?" He asked, his burnt-flesh smelling breath wafting under Katara's nose.

"He's not here. He's escorting the Earth King to a camp of Earth Kingdom loyalists." The lie fell from her lips before she even realized she'd come up with it.

"Why would the Earth King need an escort?" A man with a braided ponytail asked from his komodo-rhino.

"He's not a bender and he needs to get to the camp safely so he can lead their troops in the invasion." _Sorry, Sokka._

"What invasion?!" Piercings-man demanded. Katara only glared at him. She refused to divulge all of their secrets.

"Answer me, wench!" He yelled, raising a fist wreathed in fire. Katara turned away, waiting for the blow and pain of the burn that would follow.

"Colonel Mongke, wait!" Another man, smaller than the others and his face half covered in red paint, shouted.

"What, Vachir?" The colonel turned, fist still raised.

"The Fire Lord must know about this invasion. We should head for the Fire Nation capital; we can get the information out of her on the way." He reasoned. Colonel Mongke took a moment to consider this, then dropped his fist to his side, the fire extinguishing in a puff of smoke.

"Fine. Tie her to my mount." He instructed.

An older looking man with a lush beard hopped down and strode over to Katara. He lifted her off the ground without so much as a grunt of effort and threw her, chest-down, over the flank of the biggest komodo-rhino. More coarse rope covered her as she was strapped tightly to the creature. Colonel Mongke mounted the beast and then turned in his seat to giver her an evil smirk.

"When we're done with you, there's a brothel in the capital that will pay a great deal of gold to have an exotic thing such as yourself." He said the words sweetly but deep, paralyzing fear blossomed in Katara's chest. As the tears began to well in her eyes, she thought with a small bit of relief that at least they wouldn't get Aang.

* * *

It took several days and nights for them to reach the Western Lake, all of which were a haze of pain and questions to Katara. She didn't know what she'd told them, the only thing she really knew was the sensation of burning skin. Each night, the same thin man who had stopped Mongke from hitting her, laid Katara in a body of water and calmly told her to heal herself. A girl with burn scars wouldn't fetch quite as good a price.

The Fire Nation ship that they'd secured passage on was heavily guarded and Katara assumed there was someone of importance on board. She never found out who as her captors/torturers kept her tied up with the komodo-rhinos in the cargo bay. Occasionally, Vachir would come in to give her a few sips of water. One night, Mongke came into the cargo bay, wobbling slightly. As he got closer the smell of alcohol got stronger until it was all Katara could do not to gag. He plopped down unsteadily in front of her, staring at her chest again. A creeping feeling of unease made its way up Katara's spine.

"Tell me, waterbender; do you have any experience with men?" He almost slurred. Her feeling of unease grew stronger.

"What do you mean?" She asked caution lacing her words. He laughed a dark, haughty laugh.

"I'll take that as a no. It's okay though…I'll teach you." He said, leaning closer and brushing the hair from her face. Katara realized she was trembling as he brushed a rough thumb across her bottom lip.

"Please…don't…" She begged. This man was nearly twice her age; he shouldn't be touching her like this.

"Am I not good enough for you?!" He snarled, the fury evident in his eyes. Katara didn't know what to do; would he burn her again if she refused him? The ship's walls were too thick this far below deck, she could barely feel the water outside the hull.

"Please don't do this…" Katara pleaded in a voice that was unusually small for her.

"You're mine! I'll do what I want with you!" He screamed. Mongke pushed Katara on her back, the cold metal biting into her skin through her tattered robes. The heat of Mongke's body crushed her, a stark contrast to the cold at her back. He needed only one hand to pin her bound arms above her head, the other he used to push up the bottom of Katara's robe exposing her sarashi.

She struggled with muscles made weak from her interrogations and he laughed at her.

"The fighters are always the most fun…" He whispered in her ear and then he burned through her wrappings. Hot, thick tears rolled from the corners of her eyes into her hair and her heart was hammering in her chest, trying to escape what it knew was going to happen.

His hand left her skin and he grunted, struggling in his inebriation to remove his pants. Katara made desperate prayers to Yue that he was too drunk to get his pants undone. A pleased sigh told her that she was not so lucky. A dark chuckle was the only warning Katara had before he pushed himself into her. The scream that tore its way out of her throat reverberated off the metal walls of the hull and assaulted her ears. The pain was so sharp and at the same time dull as he forced himself in and out of her, grunting and huffing his stinking breath on her like the beasts that shared the hull with them.

It hurt so badly and she prayed to the spirits, to her mother that it would stop; that he would lose interest in her. But he didn't. He took his time, drawling out the trauma; he told her she was beautiful then turned around and called her peasant trash when she refused to look at him. When it was finally over, he stumbled his way out of the cargo bay, leaving her there half naked and alone.

She was dirt now. Less than dirt. Bile crept its way up her throat and she turned to the side, vomiting what little her stomach held. Shame washed over her in waves as she struggled to rub his scent from her skin and more tears poured down her cheeks. It was hours before she finally fell into a restless sleep. They would arrive in the Fire Nation by morning.


	2. Chapter 2

The crowd outside of the ship was so loud, Katara could hear them through the thick metal of the hull. Whoever else was on this ship with them was obviously well loved. The door to her prison was opened suddenly and Vachir stepped through. Katara strained to cover herself but Vachir didn't seem interested in her bare legs. He walked up to her, stopping a few feet away and dropped a red tunic and pants at her feet.

"Put these on." He said, turning his back on her. Katara was dumbfounded. Why wasn't he attacking her too?

"I can't." Katara almost whispered, gesturing to her bound hands and feet.

Vachir sighed and drew a small dagger from his waistband. In one swift movement he cut both her binds, then returned to his previous position. Katara moved grab the pants and when she stood up to put them on she was struck with a terrible soreness deep within her. She couldn't stop the whine that left her lips. Vachir turned slightly at the noise but did not look at her. Not wanting to be exposed any longer, Katara ignored her pain and hastily pulled on the pants. As she pulled her robe over her head, she noticed a stinging on her side.

Looking down, Katara noticed a small burn. _When had that happened?_ A memory flashed behind her eyes of Mongke grabbing her sides for better leverage. _Oh_. She suppressed the shudder that threatened to overwhelm her and instead pulled the red tunic over her head. It was a thin material, but it was shapeless and would cover her nicely. Unsure what to do, Katara cleared her throat a bit. Vachir turned around fully and looked her in the eyes. What she saw there made her flesh crawl. Pity.

"You'll be riding on Kahchi's komodo-rhino to the brothel." He said. Katara's heart fell to her feet; she would be subjected to more nights like last night until she could escape. He must have seen the look on her face because he tried to reassure her.

"Madame Lu usually takes care of her girls. Especially someone like you; you could get her a lot of money…" Katara bristled.

"What do you mean 'someone like me'?!"

"I just meant…"

"Vachir! Colonel Mongke is waiting; bring the prisoner!" One of the other men shouted from the door way. Vachir sighed.

"Let's go." He said and pulled out some rope that Katara hadn't known he had, binding her hands again. He led her to one of the great beasts that she had been sleeping next to and placed her on top of it, just behind the saddle.

Just then, the large cargo bay door fell open with a giant metallic bang and sunlight burst into the hull. A wave of heat smothered Katara, making it momentarily difficult to breathe. Vachir tied each komodo-rhino to the one in front of it (Katara was somewhere in the middle) and led the procession out into the bright light of the docks. Despite her hatred of the Fire Nation, Katara could not deny that its capital was beautiful. Tall buildings lined wide streets full of people bustling about in the afternoon sun. The docks were largely empty of the crowd she had heard cheering not long ago. Katara didn't have time to ask Vachir who they had been cheering because he had just led the group up to the other members of the Rough Rhinos.

When she caught sight of Mongke, a desperate panic gripped Katara's senses and she would have fallen off the back of the komodo-rhino if not for a large hand on her upper back that held her in place. She looked behind her to see the same bearded man who had thrown her on Mongke's mount the day she was captured.

"If you don't stay on, I'll drag you behind." He said steadily. So this was Kahchi. Katara could only glare at the man as he mounted the beast in front of her and kicked its sides, jolting it into motion.

The rough canter of the animal made Katara's soreness worse and the memories of its origin played at the edges of her mind. The Rough Rhinos made their way through the city with Mongke at the lead, turning down street after street, until Katara could no longer remember which way they had come. Suddenly, the whole procession came to a halt in front of three story building with a large red lantern on its moniker. _The Fire Lily_. Katara was pulled unceremoniously from the komodo-rhino by Kahchi, who kept a hand on her shoulder as she was lead into the establishment. Mongke led the way in and ordered a small girl who couldn't have been any older than Toph, to fetch Madame Lu.

The group waited for a few moments in the cozy little foyer, but it seemed like an eternity to Katara. Her body shook slightly; a physical reaction of being so close to the monster that violated her, but he paid her no mind. As if she wasn't really there. A tall, beautiful woman walked into the room just then, stopping in front of Mongke.

"Colonel, it's so lovely to see you again. Shall I set up your usual?" She asked gracefully. Her voice was sweet and soft and reminded Katara of her mother. Mongke grunted.

"Sure. Vachir, work out the details." He said with a vague gesture in Katara's direction before stalking off through a curtained doorway, led by a giggling young woman. Katara wondered morosely, if she would be that girl next time.

Her attention was brought back around by the tall woman who grabbed Katara's chin with surprising strength. She turned Katara's face in every which direction, examining her closely.

"Well, she has a pretty face, but what about her body? These clothes are completely shapeless." She said. Vachir walked over to Katara and bunched the extra fabric of her tunic in his hand, exposing her curves through the thin shirt.

"Not bad…how much do you want for her?" She quipped, all softness in her voice gone.

"Mongke wants at least 200 gold." He answered. That was Katara's worth.

"That's a lot." Madame Lu said, giving Vachir a look. Katara had seen that look before when Sokka was preparing to haggle the price with a merchant. Oh, how she missed him.

"Look at her, the tan skin, the blue eyes; she's exotic. Men will pay a lot of coin to be with her." Vachir reasoned.

"Perhaps, but how do I know she's worth it?" Madame Lu was holding out for something and Katara got the feeling that it wasn't a lowered price.

"She's experienced." Vachir said, with less gusto than before.

She wasn't sure exactly when her legs gave out beneathe her, but suddenly Katara was being held up by Kahchi, who seemed less than pleased about it. Experience? It that what they were calling what Mongke did to her? Madame Lu gave Katara another appraising look before nodding.

"I'll take her." The sentence was simple; said like someone buying a hippo-cow. "Come with me, we'll draw up the paper work. Suyin will lead to your room, girl."

A slight girl, only a few inches shorter than Katara came into the room. She had short brown hair and large green eyes. She held her hand out to Katara, who was no longer bound. Kahchi pushed Katara forward and she grabbed onto Suyin's hand for support. Suyin immediately beamed at her and yanked them both forward through a dizzying maze of hallways, talking all the while.

"My name is Suyin, but you already know that. You don't look like you're from around here..."

"I'm not."

"Well, I was born here in the capital but my mother was from the Earth Kingdom. People tell me I look a lot like her, but I don't really remember what she looked like. She died when I was little." Katara's heart softened a little.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't be. It was a long time ago. So what's your name?"

"Katara."

"That's a really pretty name. There's another girl here whose name is Katsumi…that's like yours. She's kind of mean though…" _Spirits, this girl can talk._

"So I was thinking we cou-ouch!" Suyin cried out when her shoulder bumped the corner of a wall and she bit her lip, trying to restrain her pain.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked, immediately trying to get a look at her shoulder. Old habits die hard.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was with a fire bender earlier and he just got a little excited and burned me." She said, waving Katara off. But Katara was already bending water from a basin left outside of a door, to her hands.

It had been too long since she had felt her element encase her senses like that. It felt so good. Katara gestured to Suyin to pull down the shoulder of her robe and expose the angry, red flesh. Soft blue light filled the hallway and Katara brought her hands down to the stunned girl's shoulder. The burn was relatively fresh, so she was able to heal the skin quickly and when she was done she returned the water to the basin.

Suyin stood there, looking stunned.

"YOU'RE A WATERBENDER?!" She shouted in shock. Katara tried desperately to quiet her, the less these people knew about her abilities, the better. After a few moments of rushed whispers, Suyin agreed to keep Katara's secret. They walked down the hall until they reached an empty room that was to be Katara's. Before she left, Suyin stopped in the doorway and turned to the waterbender with a smug smile on her face.

"We're going to be good friends."

* * *

Days turned into weeks , weeks turned into months and slowly Katara lost hope that her friends would be able to find her. The first few days, Katara was allowed to get used to the layout of The Fire Lilly, but after that Madame Lu expected her to start working. It was horrible at first, a constant reminder that she was trash, but eventually Katara perfected the art of being somewhere else when she was with a 'customer'. She would live in memories of fond times spent with her friends and family while men of all ages, shapes and sizes grunted above her.

One day, the whole of The Fire Lilly seemed to buzz with excitement. Katara walked the halls, looking for Suyin (her friend and the only reason Katara hadn't escaped yet) but was met instead with Madame Lu.

"There you are. We have some very important clients here and I want you to entertain them." She said and Katara sighed inwardly. What old government officials would she be forced to endure this time? Madame Lu shoved a tray of tea into her hands.

"They're in the dining room; go." She said, giving Katara a pat on the butt.

* * *

This was stupid. Zuko had never felt more humiliated then when his father suggested that he show Chan a good time at a whore house. Chan was stupid. If it wasn't for Chan's father trying to suck up to Zuko's, they would never be here. But alas, here they were. _The Fire Lilly._ Young women showed Chan and Zuko into a dining room and told them that refreshments would arrive shortly. They giggled as they left and Zuko scowled.

"So…" said Chan. "You come here often?" Zuko's scowl deepened.

"No!" Zuko didn't want to deal with girls. Ever since he and Mai had broken up on Ember Island, Zuko had held true to his childhood realization that girls were crazy.

Suddenly, a crash of braking china sounded from the other side of the room and when Zuko turned to look, his stomach dropped into his butt.

"Katara?!"

"_You._"

* * *

Whelp, that was chapter two... after the horror of chapter one I wanted to do a sort of PSA announcement. This is for anyone who has been a victim of sexual assault:

What they did was vile and disgusting. Yes, you're now left with this horrible, traumatic event to move on from, but your life is not entirely lost. Recovery is possible, and an unfortunately large number of people have to go through that- but they make it to the other side. So can you, you can do this. You're not dirty, you're not a "slut" or a "whore", you are a human being whose rights were violated. But you are strong, and I know you can move past this in due time.


End file.
